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STL File Repair in Rhino: Ceros
STL File Repair in Rhino: Ceros
in Rhinoceros
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Table of Contents
Using Rhino with STL Files................................................................4
3-D Printing .................................................................................. 4
Tools for Mesh Repair ..................................................................... 4
Basic STL Repair Tutorial ..................................................................5
Display Mesh Wires ........................................................................ 5
Remove Unwanted Detail ................................................................ 7
Display Gaps ................................................................................11
Close Gaps...................................................................................12
Final Check ..................................................................................13
Advanced STL Repair Tutorial .........................................................14
Display Settings............................................................................14
Join the Mesh ...............................................................................15
Display Gaps ................................................................................16
Close Gaps...................................................................................16
Stitch Larger Gaps ........................................................................17
Fill Holes......................................................................................18
Remove Geometry by Feature.........................................................19
Fill Holes between Objects..............................................................22
Replace Faces...............................................................................24
Thicken/ Shell Meshes....................................................................26
Mesh Tools Reference .....................................................................29
Standard Display Modes .................................................................29
Advanced Display Modes ................................................................32
Analyze for Watertight Meshes ........................................................35
Select open and closed meshes ...................................................35
Display open edges....................................................................36
Edit and Repair Tools .....................................................................36
Align normal direction ................................................................36
Extract parts.............................................................................38
Delete parts .............................................................................42
Fill and patch holes....................................................................44
Collapse faces and edges............................................................49
Thicken/Offset Mesh Objects...........................................................53
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3-D Printing
Using Rhinos Bonus Tools, you can print 3dm, STL, IGES, STEP, DWG, 3DS, and
many more file formats directly to a stereolithography printer or file.
This allows you to take nearly any 3-D model and send it to a prototyping machine.
As with any model going to a printer, the output STL file must be watertight. Rhino
has many tools to repair STL files that are not watertight and to create watertight
geometry to send to a 3-D printer. The tutorials that follow show you how to
diagnose and repair gaps in the STL file.
If you have a 3-D printer installed on your system, a Print 3-D menu item is added
to Rhino's File menu, and your printer will display in the list. Currently supported
systems include:
Delft Spline Systems DeskProto: www.deskproto.com
Roland MODELA Player: www.roland.com
Solidscape ModelWorks: www.solid-scape.com
Stratasys Catalyst: www.dimensionprinting.com
Z Corporation ZPrint: www.zcorp.com
To set the viewport to shaded mode, rightclick the viewport title (Perspective) and
from the menu, choose Shaded Display.
Though you can now get a better idea of
the objects shape, it is still not easy to find
the information you need to repair the
mesh in this display mode.
Click OK.
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Display Settings
As in the previous examples, use the Advanced Display Settings to improve the
visibility of problem areas in the mesh.
To turn on advanced display settings
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Close Gaps
As in the previous example, start by closing small seams in the mesh with the
MatchMeshEdge command.
To stitch naked edges
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Press Enter.
The gap closes.
Fill Holes
Sometimes there are larger holes that demand more modeling to close. In this
example, you can use the FillHole command to fill a selected hole.
To fill a hole
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Replace Faces
The top of the bottle is the most complicated to close. First, remove the flat areas
that are floating out on the bottle top. This leaves a gap in the bottle top. Patch a
few faces into the gap to make filling possible, and then fill the holes.
To repair the shelf edge and fill the gap
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Shaded Display
Lets you pick visible faces.
Ghosted Display
Makes the mesh semi-transparent.
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Flat Shade
Meshes consist of a series of flat faces. In a
normal shaded display mode, the mesh looks
smooth on the screen. This smooth display
method does not mean the mesh is actually
smooth. To see the true structure of the mesh,
turn on Flat Shade. Flat Shade is a toggle that
works with all shaded modes.
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From the Bonus menu, choose View, and then choose Advanced Display
Settings (AdvancedDisplay command).
Use these settings to see how a mesh is structured, making it easier to repair.
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ExtractMeshFacesByEdgeLength
Bonus menu: Mesh > Extract > by Edge
Length
Extracts all faces that have an edge greater or
less than a specified length.
This command is good for removing small
triangles or large triangles that do not belong
in the mesh.
In the example image, the extracted red faces
have an edge length shorter than 0.1.
Options
SelectFaces
If LessThan, selects faces with an edge
length less than the EdgeLength setting.
If GreaterThan, selects faces with an edge
length greater than the EdgeLength setting.
EdgeLength
Sets the edge length to compare.
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ExtractDuplicateMeshFaces
Bonus menu: Mesh > Extract > Duplicate
Extracts duplicate faces to a separate mesh.
ExtractBadMeshFaces
Bonus menu: Mesh > Utilities > Extract Bad
Face
Extracts faces that do not have a normal, have
collinear vertices, or are otherwise corrupt.
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FillHoles
Bonus menu: Mesh > Fill Holes
Attempts to fill every hole in the mesh.
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CollapseByEdgeLength
Bonus menu: Mesh > Collapse > by Edge
Length
Collapses all faces that have an edge greater
or less than a specified length.
This command is good for removing small
triangles or large triangles that do not belong
in the mesh.
Options
SelectFaces
If LessThan, selects faces with an edge
length less than the EdgeLength setting.
If GreaterThan, selects faces with an edge
length greater than the EdgeLength setting.
EdgeLength
Set the edge length to compare.
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CollapseMeshFace
Bonus menu: Mesh > Collapse > Face
Collapses selected faces. The face will collapse
to one vertex.
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